Color Masterbatches

We measure your reference on a spectrophotometer to get its colour values, then formulate a pigment combination that reproduces those values in your polymer at your wall thickness. The match is then produced, moulded or extruded into a plaque, and measured again against the target. Matching on the actual substrate matters — the same formulation reads differently in natural PP than in a filled or recycled base.

Four things: the reference (a physical sample is best, but Pantone®, RAL or colour values work), the base polymer and grade, the process you are running, and the wall thickness or film gauge. Anything else that constrains the formulation — food contact, outdoor exposure, a heavy-metal restriction — should be stated up front. Our guide on how to write a masterbatch specification covers exactly what to send.

Yes. We match from physical samples, Pantone® and RAL references, and from supplied colour values. Be aware that Pantone and RAL are defined on paper or paint, not on plastic, so a plastic match is always an approximation of an ink standard — the closeness achievable depends on your polymer, opacity and surface finish. We will show you what is achievable on a plaque before you commit. You can also browse our shade card.

Usually one of four causes: a pigment lot change at the masterbatch supplier, a change in your base resin or regrind ratio, a change in your process temperature or residence time, or measurement under different lighting. The fix is to agree a numeric tolerance against a measured standard rather than eyeballing plaques. We explain how to hold a supplier to that in why colour drifts between batches.

Match the carrier to your base polymer — PE for polyethylene, PP for polypropylene, and a resin-specific carrier for PET masterbatch or engineering polymer masterbatch such as PA, PBT, PC or ABS. A mismatched carrier can cause delamination, poor dispersion and a shift in melt flow index. Where one batch must run across several polymers, a universal carrier is available, with a small trade-off in dispersion.

Only if the pigments are selected for it. Many organic pigments that are perfectly stable in polyolefins degrade or shift shade at the 280–300°C range typical of polyamide and polycarbonate. For those polymers we formulate from a heat-stable pigment set — see Engineering Polymer Masterbatches. Tell us the melt temperature and residence time and we will formulate against it.

Yes, with a caveat: the recyclate is itself the variable. Post-consumer material carries its own base colour that shifts from lot to lot, so a match made on one batch of recyclate will not hold on another unless the input is controlled. In practice we formulate with more opacity, or steer towards deeper shades and black masterbatch that mask the base. See Recycling Masterbatches and masterbatch for recycled and PCR plastic.

Yes. Once a shade is approved we hold the formulation and the measured standard against it, so repeat orders are produced and checked against the same reference rather than re-matched by eye. This is what makes a masterbatch supplier worth staying with — the second order should look like the first.

Yes. Life Color Pigments & Masterbatches is a colour masterbatch manufacturer in India with a library of over 12,000 shades, producing at Vasai East, Palghar, Maharashtra. We also supply white masterbatch, black masterbatch, additive masterbatch, special effect masterbatch and mono concentrates. Read more about us, see our certifications, or contact us.